Madeline Cirillo Archer, Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century, The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 28, Part 1 (Commentary), New York 1995

Comment

Bartsch supposed it was Giulio Bonasone's invention, but it derives from a Roman sarcophagus relief of the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, such as the one today in Woburn Abbey. According to Massari and Cirillo Archer in TIB, Bonasone used an intermediary source, most likely a drawing by Perino del Vaga, as there are drawings of this type in the Louvre (inv. no. 593) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. 9092) attributed to him. Battista Franco (Bartsch XVI.45.134) and Agostino Musi (Bartsch XIV.192.240) also engraved this composition. The plate was later published by Pietro de Nobilis.